*Disclosure: I received an Applebee's gift card in exchange for this blog post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own.

National Cheeseburger Day is coming up on Monday, September 18th, and Team Schostak Applebee's locations will be offering a $6.99 burger and fries deal, at all 64 of its Applebee's restaurants.

Additionally, the deals on the 18th will kick off a series of great offers and contests throughout the rest of the week to celebrate the company’s 5-year anniversary of owning its Michigan Applebee’s restaurants, including:

Kids eat free Mondays-Wednesdays

30% for all Veteran and active military members Monday through Friday

$5 drink specials

A $5 gift certificate to every guest (Wed. 9/20 only)

The chance for 5 lucky guests to win free Applebee's for a YEAR (Wed. 9/20 only), and other prizes.

Kids meal: pizzas and yogurt

More information:TEAM Schostak Family Restaurants (TSFR), a Michigan-based family-owned restaurant group with an expansive portfolio of casual, quick service and family dining restaurants throughout the state, is celebrating five years of ownership of its 64 Applebee’s restaurants statewide with a five-day celebration September 18-22. Throughout the celebration, TSFR is expected to giveaway $1.2 million in gift cards and free meals to its loyal guests.

Throughout the week, TSFR and its Applebee’s restaurants will offer free meals to kids on Monday, September 18 thru Wednesday, September 20 (limit 2 kids meals free with every adult entrée), as well as provide veterans and active military personnel 30 percent off their meals Monday thru Friday. Furthermore, Applebee’s will offer its all-in burgers for $6.99 on National Cheeseburger Day, Monday, September 18, in addition to offering its mucho and craft brewtus drinks for $5 all week long.

On the anniversary day, Wednesday, September 20, the celebration will expand with Applebee’s giving a free $5 gift card to every guest that dines with the neighborhood grill and bar that day and provide five lucky guests with free Applebee’s for a year—two visits per month valued at $25 per visit or $600 for the year.

Kids meal: mac 'n cheese and salad

“As a family-owned company, we purchased the Michigan Applebee’s due to its alignment with our company values of creating a neighborhood dining experience with high-quality food at an affordable price,” said TSFR director of marketing Barb Pasciak. “Throughout our five years owning and operating Applebee’s, we have remained committed to bringing a local perspective of the market and a passion for being a fabric of each community we serve to our Applebee’s restaurants. With this celebration, we are giving back to each local resident and business that has supported us along the way. We are proud to be the local owner and operator of these Applebee’s restaurants and look forward to continuing to lead the way both in the restaurant industry and the communities we serve for many more years to come.”

Since purchasing the 64 Michigan Applebee’s in 2012, TSFR has elevated the dining experience for guests by undergoing a more than $12 million revitalization of 60 Applebee’s restaurants and building an additional four new locations in key communities throughout the state. As part of its commitment to giving back to the communities it serves, TSFR has donated more than $1 million in funds and free meals to local schools, youth athletics, families and veterans/active military personnel in need and nonprofit organizations—including JDRF, Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) and Make-A-Wish Michigan—through its Dine to Donate, Flapjack Fundraisers and sponsorships.

For more information about TSFR and its Applebee’s anniversary celebrations, visit www.teamschostak.com.

GIVEAWAY:

One of my lucky readers will win a $25 Applebee's gift card!

Enter via the widget below. Giveaway will end on Friday, September 15th, at 11:59pm EST, and winner will be emailed the next day and have 24 hours to respond, or an alternate winner will be chosen.

So we've all been there ... that time when you're on an important phone call, and then the call drops. Or even when you need to use the internet on your smartphone, only to realize that you're at your data limit for the month.

I drive all over the metro Detroit area for movie screenings; because of this, most of the time I know where I'm going, but sometimes, I'm in an unfamiliar area or at an unfamiliar theater and I need GPS to know how to get there and back.

A few months ago, I was headed to the AMC Forum (Sterling Heights area) and I wanted to know the best way to get home from there. My phone kept stalling ... and stalling ... and then the Maps app crashed! Gah! I was extremely frustrated. I was finally able to re-start the phone and get safely home, but it TOOK. SO. LONG. Had the Maps app worked the fir…

*Disclosure: This is a sponsored post. The opinions expressed here, however, are my own. As long-time readers of this blog surely know, I travel quite a lot. A few years ago, I only took about 2-3 trips per year, not including trips in the state of Michigan (Grand Haven weekends, etc.), but this past year, I was fortunate in that I was able to travel very frequently.

I recently heard about a new travel site, DirectHotels.com, which is similar to Kayak.com, in that it searches all of the other travel sites (Orbitz, Expedia, etc.) to find the best deals for you. I gave it a bit of a test run to see if that is indeed true.

About the site:
DirectHotels.com is a new hotel comparison tool that challenges the big brands. Travelers can easily compare all the travel sites in one place to find the cheapest hotel. DirectHotels.com compares over 200 bookings sites, so users can be sure about its accuracy. Using DirectHotels.com means that you will never overpay.

I've written these past two years about Bookstock, a huge used book & media sale that takes place at Laurel Park Place, in Livonia, and it's returning again this year, from Sunday, 4/22 through Sunday, 4/29.Read more about the event over at my book blog! I was finally able to check it out last year, and they had a large mix of books and media (including DVDs, Blu-rays, and records).To learn more about Bookstock, click hereto visit my book blog, or visit their official site here.